The Unique Cuisine of Old (and New) Phuket

Every year, Daria and I travel to Phuket so she can compete in the local marathon. And every year, when the race is over, we set off on an all-day food crawl across the island. It's become our favorite day of the year, and so this time, we're bringing you along, for a full day of exploring the incredible and largely unknown "real" side of the world's most overcrowded tourist destination, and eating really, really well.

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0:00 - Introduction
1:06 - The Pearl of the Andaman
3:52 - Khao Gaeng Breakfast
6:44 - The Three Groups
10:48 - The Marathon Ends and Begins
12:12 - The Island's Best Roti
14:16 - Differences
16:07 - Understanding the Map
18:35 - Mee Sapam
22:36 - The Modern Story of Phuket
26:30 - The Best Restaurant on the Island
27:49 - Kin Kub Ei
30:20 - The Meal
34:21 - Legacy
38:04 - The Fourth Group
41:48 - Georgian Feast in Old Town
45:22 - Khachapuri, Kinkhali, and a Cold Drink
47:52 - Conclusion
49:37 - Post-Race Interview

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Video Credits:

[OTRontheroad]

Location Pins:
And a couple that we referenced (our personal favorite Post-Soviet places in Phuket):

[emptyemptiness]

The Thai government should be paying this channel. Even my Thai friends learn from this channel about their own history and cuisine . After 30 odd years here this channel re instills that feeling of awe i felt when i first came here.

[JBW-Phuket]

Dude. This is what I eat everyday. Welcome to Phuket. Thanks for adding the history. Not many know this stuff.

[Christian-is-thriving]

Such a good video. Daria's little happy dance while eating the Georgian food was adorable. The woman making the restaurant to preserve her Auntie's food was so heartwarming. I wish more people cared about saving old food ways no matter where they live in the world.

[PhilipJames]

Awesome one Adam 💯
I live in Phuket and the best way to uncover its past is the food! I feel it’s the best food of Thailand and has the most joyful locals.

[EarthCamper]

Epic. Never fails to bring tears of joy while watching your video ❤

[crixtus]

Mee Sapam looks so suspiciously familiar. It looks like a local Sarawakian dish, colloquially know as "fried ccoked noodles".
And the peranakan lady in her sarong wielding the mortar and pestle....too legit. I can remember my grandma doing that and i miss my grandma's cooking 😪. Tok tok tok said the mortar to the pestle and it meant that food was on the way in the kitchen. Its still Pavlov's bell to some of us.

[hom_di]

I lived in Phuket - and have to say the good food was pretty hard to find, but it did exist. The Khao Gaeng shop opposite Wat Chalong is a personal fave, the most amazing muslim style sup nuea (beef soup) and some incredible muu pad prik pao (pork fried with nam prik pao), super cheap too. But all in all, I was mightily relieved to move back to the north of Thailand where you don't have to hunt for the culture, or the good food!

[melissarose]

One of my favorite episodes to date. Growing up in a family who cooked together and passed down recipes, seeing a niece encourage her Auntie to open (a Michelin star) restaurant is about the coolest thing ever. ❤

[seminky]

I love this channel. They provide historal part of it and unbiased. They covered everything. Keep up the good work and thank you.

[chrisaguilera]

Congrats Daria!! 5th place out of 3000 runners is really impressive.

[ChineseKiwi]

Daria's eyes lighting up with the Georgian food is great! Like you Adam with the gumbo! Nothing like the tastes and sounds of where you grew up, no matter where you immigrated to :) That pure pure comfort food :D

[eugeniogonzalez]

Wonderful heritage cuisines
and a good ender on Georgian cooking!!!!🎉

[simpligypsi]

Im so happy to have been a subscriber now for a couple of weeks! Im gonnabe able to say i was here before yu hit the four million mark! You talet and love for food and its history willbe your legacy to the world. My neice lived in Phucat for 10 yrs and loved it and the food!

[RangKlos]

Excellent as usual. Phuket was designated UNESCO creative city of gastronomy since 2015. I was in Chiang Mai's nomination team so we were so envy!

[dondobbs]

So SO SO awesome!! Love Ei! Seeing her alone is worth it! But; all of it! the history! the humor! The food!! And Daria! Congrats on being 5th!! Thanks for sharing your day!

[bernardlokman]

It is sad that heritage food are dying, yet something inevitable. I started to learn to cook many of Medan's Peranakan dishes because grandma could not cook anymore and there are some very unique creole dishes you can only find in behind closed doors of Medan Chinese shophouses. As much as I want to share them, I also want people to know the history behind the food before they eventually get claimed and appropriated.

[margaretgiudice]

This is the first time one of your videos has come up in my feed. I had to comment and say how much I loved it! The history of Phuket and the beautiful historical photos were fantastic to see and I loved the cultural links to the dishes you ate. Definitely subscribed and can’t wait to check out more of your channel’s content.

[Chinaman]

Yay, another awesome OTR video!❤🎉. I love Phuket food, and yes a Phuket Peranakan food video please!! 😊❤

[chanthamala]

Hi OTR team! From NYC, 8am ...we are just waking up to go to work. Thank you for another great video!!!